Page 45 of Divine Obsession

“This is her, right?” Chief Johnson asked from my side.

I shook my head.

“No?”

“No. I mean,yes, it’s hers, but…” I shook my head, faster this time.

“Miss Moretti…”

“No. No way.”

“Miss–”

“I know she’s alive.”

“Natalia.”

“So? This could mean anything. Maybe she dropped it off a bridge or something.”

Chief Johnson took a deep breath. “We have to be logical about this. Natalia–”

I couldn’t stay in that room a second longer.

Breathing shakily through the panic infesting my chest, I rushed through the hallways until I made it out into the station’s main room. Chief Johnson followed behind me.

“Miss Moretti…”

“This means nothing!” I spun around, facing him. “Youwillkeep looking for her. Am I understood?”

I could read his face.

I knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Am. I. Understood.” My voice boomed through the station, causing everyone around us to quiet down as several cops turned to watch us.

Another moment passed, and I quickly brought my hand up to wipe off a tear that slipped down my cheek.

“Yes, Miss Moretti. We’ll find her. I’ll get more detectives on the case.”

The heaviness in my chest didn’t go away when I walked out of the NYPD station. Not when I walked aimlessly down the street, or the whole of Central Park – the way I always did when upset. A walk Maria and I used to take to relax and wind down.

People weren’t declared dead until a year passed after their disappearance.

It wouldn’t be until nine months later that I would receive the dreaded phone call from Chief Johnson, in that same park, at the famous ice-rink.

I’m sorry, Miss Moretti. There’s nothing else we can do.

Chapter 11

17 years old

“WE LOOK SO PRETTY.”

“So cute,” I agreed.

Maria and I both giggled over the picture in my hand. We took it in a photo booth earlier tonight when we’d gone to get something to eat.

It was black and white. I was smiling wide, holding onto Maria’s neck. She was smiling cheeky too, her tongue out.

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